NEC Harlequins v Caerphilly

Half-time: Caerphilly 17 - NEC Harlequins 21
Parker Pen Tournament 2nd Round played away at The Stoop Memorial Ground on Saturday 19th October 2002
Attendance 4,252
Referee: Gregg Davies, Touch Judges: Malcolm Changleng, Bert Craig

The future's bright, the future's Green

Mark Ring's men put in a greatly improved and spirited performance, playing with passion and pride for their club in the return leg against NEC Harlequins at the Stoop Memorial Ground last weekend. All credit to the Castletown men, who only a week earlier put in a dour performance at Virginia Park, losing to the Quins 73-20. Caerphilly picked themselves up from this hiding to put in a superb team effort and almost overturn the "Mighty Quins", in front of the 4,252 crowd.
An improved Harlequins side saw the return of English International with 97 caps and British Lion, Jason Leonard as Captain. Caerphilly's major change in their line saw Ex-Welsh International full-back Justin Thomas drop into the outside-half slot for Luke Richards, who is out for 8 weeks with a broken collar bone. Thomas, the seasoned campaigner has played the position of outside-half in his history of the game, played with confidence and orchestrated the game superbly which opens new doors for the men in Green.
A strong following of Caerphilly supporters travelled to the Stoop. The Castletown stalwarts lifted their team and enjoyed an excellent display of rugby and professional hospitality.

A nervous start by Caerphilly with unforced errors and loose tackles contributed to an early Harlequins try. The Quins ball spread wide with winger, Ben Gollings on the end of the line to sprint through in the opening minute.

The try duly converted by full-back, Nathan Williams. This opening try seemed to be the start of a Harlequins cricket score, how wrong we all were when Caerphilly settled their nerves and bounced back to score a try on 6 minutes.

The ball passed out wide, with support from flanker Gareth Jones to power through to score under the posts. Harlequins extended their lead minutes later with a try from outside-half, Seb Fitzgerald and converted by Williams. Once again the Castletown men replied with pressure. Centre, Roddy Boobyer always striving to extend over the gain line, was tackled short of the Quins try-line.

A penalty awarded with the Quins caught off-side. The ball passed wide at electric pace saw Gareth Jones in for his second try of the day. A penalty awarded by Scottish Referee, Gregg Davies for the Harlequins with Caerphilly judged to be killing the ball, Quins opted for a scrum. A one man show by Ben Gollings, breaking through the Caerphilly defence to score in the right corner. Converted by Williams.

Caerphilly closed the gap on 26 minutes with a penalty for a Harlequins infringement. A ruck was formed metres from the Quins try-line and lock, Nic Rouse barged over at close range. Caerphilly scrum-half, Allen Chiltern was given the kicking duties in the absence of Luke Richards, completed the conversion.

Half time score: NEC Harlequins 21 - 17 Caerphilly.
Caerphilly quickly built on their second half re-start, and from early pressure were awarded a scrum 5 metres from the Harlequins try-line.

Caerphilly's evergreen number 8, Andrew Williams peeled-off the scrum to put the Green and Whites in the lead after 2 minutes of play. Harlequins regained the lead when lock, Jim Evans made an angled run through the Caerphilly defence, averting tackles on his way.

With full-back Sione Tuipulotu to beat, the 2nd row barged over to score, with a Williams conversion. Caerphilly's defence improved and thwarted all further attacks. First up tackles were better and the Quins could only manage a penalty against their opposition. The remaining 10 minutes of the game saw Caerphilly pile on the pressure, breaking through the gain line, over and over.

The attacking Castletown men sent the ball left, through the back line with replacement hooker, Feao Vunipola crashing over in the left corner. Caerphilly on a roll, gave Geraint Lewis on the wing a chance to seal their first win of the season, but the wily grey fox was bundled into touch just 2 metres short of the Quin's try-line in the 79th minute. Caerphilly came away from the Stoop beating Harlequins by 5 tries to 4, but the kicking accuracy of Nathan Williams was enough to give the Harlequins a home win.

All Caerphilly's tries were scored by their forwards, much to the pleasure of coach, Paul Yardley. "The Harlequins' forwards came second best in the scrums and line-outs and were totally out-gunned by the Caerphilly pack", said Yardley. "I was very pleased by our performance today". Caerphilly Head Coach, Mark Ring commented after the game "I'm proud of them all, as well as my fellow coaching staff." "If we could perform at that level every week, then few Welsh clubs could live with us."

Match report by Phil Whitfield, pictures by Mark Tamplin